Shaken
by NeverQuiteFinished
Summary: All Robin wanted to do was help out. Set after 'Failsafe' Robin/Wally
1. Chapter 1

Shaken

Chapter One

Wally rummaged through the kitchen halfheartedly. He really wasn't hungry at all but he had to keep his hands occupied somehow. As he opened the refrigerator to gaze inside, he saw Robin walk in and sit at the island. Out of the corner of his eye he could make out the Boy Wonder taking off his domino mask and rubbing his eyes slowly.

"Quite an exercise, huh?" Robin spoke up, putting his mask back on and looking at the red head, a tired smile on his face.

"Yeah." Wally answered. Closing the refrigerator door, he walked over to the island, slowly, and plopped down next to Robin with a sigh. "It sucked, man." The tense air in the kitchen began to delude at the encouraging words of the speedster to start up a conversation over the day's failure.

"So much." Robin halfway laughed as he admitted failure. Wally looked at him and then smiled fully knowing that it had taken a lot for his best friend to admit that. Robin caught the smile for what it really was and smiled as well. Their smiles grew slowly until soon the two teens were laughing, letting go of the intensity of the situation in which they had been a few hours earlier.

"Dude, we died, we like seriously died, man! I mean I felt it!" Wally had a hard time getting his words out over the fits of laughter that plagued him. He heard Robin crack up at this and saw the boy vehemently nodding his head in agreement.

"We were so dead!" the Boy Wonder said with laugher and clapped the speedster's shoulders which caused him to laugh even harder.

This went on for a few more minutes until the two were left breathless and holding aching sides.

"It was awful, wasn't it?" Wally asked, wiping tears from his eyes. He looked over at Robin who was also rearranging himself and saw that his friend was now grinning. In Wally's previous experiences he had learned that that grin was never good.

"Sure, it was awful for all of us." Robin began, his tone taking on a teasing turn as he went. Wally braced himself for the punch line. "You sure seemed to take it harder though." There it was.

"What does that mean?" Wally asked. He arched an eyebrow and looked at Robin who was now sporting the grin at full blast.

"You know." Wally cocked his head to the side almost sarcastically. "When Artemis died you nearly lost it."

"Excuse me?" Wally was indignant at the insinuation. "I did not lose it."

"Oh yes you did." Robin interjected. "Big time."

Wally glared. "Yeah well so did everyone else! We were all affected!"

"You sure didn't seem quite as 'affected' by the others dying." Robin accompanied his sentence with fitting air-quotes.

This seemed to fluster the red head and his face nearly matched his hair in color. "You heard J'onn J'onzz! The exercise went awry! You weren't as affected either!" Wally sputtered out and it made Robin laugh.

"Oh get off it, man." Robin said. "You freaked out because she makes you feel the aster, it's so obvious."

"I do not love her!" Wally regretted the words as soon as he said them. he could see how Robin was about to take that and run with it so he put a hand to Robin's mouth and smothered him, not wanting to hear what was surely to be a witty remark.

"Do NOT say a thing!" Wally put extra emphasis on the 'not'. He could tell his threat fell on deaf ears when Robin's body wouldn't stop trembling from stifled chuckles. "I mean it Rob, you say anything stupid and you'll regret it!". At this, Robin nodded and Wally slowly let him go, only to realize it was a big mistake.

As soon as he was released, Robin began to laugh loudly and annoyingly at Wally, getting off of his stool to simply fall to the floor and laugh some more. He was literally rolling on the floor laughing. Wally rolled his eyes and grunted. "You suck you know that!" he yelled at his friend before he walked away and into the mountain's living room.

"Oh I'm only joking KF!" Robin followed his friend to join him in the living room. "My bad." He said at the sight of Wally sprawled out on the couch frowning. "I'm done, promise."

Wally looked up and saw that Robin was serious. He sat up slowly and looked up at his friend. "Dick." He said and Robin smiled and sat down next to him.

"That's my name, don't wear it out!" he joked and clapped Wally on the back making the red head smile. "So, love huh?"

Wally turned to glare at him. "Dude, don't push it."

"I'm just saying," Robin stretched and rested his arm on Wally's shoulder putting him at an awkward angle. "If you lov—" _Glare_ "Like her, why don't you do anything about it?"

"I'm just… I don't know." Was Wally's only answer. Robin wouldn't have it.

He tried again. "Dude come on! If it floats your boat…What's the worst that could happen?" He shoved Wally playfully and the red head turned to him with a slight frown.

"I'm more afraid that she'll sink my boat if you know what I mean." Wally said.

"Dude, gross." Robin got up from the couch and headed to the front of the cave. It was late and Bruce would want to talk, or as Dick called it, psycho-analyze him about the afternoon's events. He motioned Wally to follow him so he wouldn't think he was just bailing on him and this conversation that had turned to the dark side.

"No, not like that." Wally followed behind the shorter boy. "It's just that I… and her… I mean she's so…"

"Wait up." Robin drove straight through Wally's thoughts and gained a very flustered looking boy looking at him. "Kid Cupid afraid to get hurt? Inform the 'Daily Planet' this is big news!" Robin cracked a smile but saw his joke had no audience. A sad and somewhat pathetic looking Wally stood before him and Robin chided himself at having been so insensitive.

"Dick, be serious for once, please?" Wally all but pleaded and it made Robin overlook the use of his name for a second time in the cave. He sighed and looked Wally up and down before speaking.

"Look, you know who trained me right?" Wally nodded looking confused. "So you more than anyone know what I'm capable of." Still Wally just looked lost and Robin sighed again. "I'm at expert at reading people." He began to work on the teleporter to take him to Gotham. "Go for it. She's digging on you too, trust me." He could feel Wally begin to lighten up behind him and it made him crack a small smile.

"Dude you sure?" Wally said excited.

"Yup." Robin said matter-of-factly. "And if I'm wrong," Wally's mood faltered a little, "I know a couple of places where we could make her disappear to." He put an emphatic twist on the word 'disappear' and wiggled his fingers for effect. Wally smiled and his mood lightened up again, his smile contagious.

"Thanks, man." Wally said as the teleporter lit up and Robin began to make his way to it.

"No prob. Oh and if you ever use my name in headquarters again," his foot was almost on the other side, "I'll make sure to disappear you too."

Robin gave one last look behind him and Wally was sure he could see what resembled a wink behind that blasted mask of his.

_-Note- I'm not an Artemis fan at all but all the dang hints being dropped lately begged to be dealt with. But fret not this is an eventual Kid/Rob I promise, just bear with me. And comment? That would help a lot and totally rock. _


	2. Chapter 2

Shaken

Chapter Two

Robin walked around Gotham Academy feeling rather proud at himself. He had helped out a good friend yesterday, his best friend, and by now he was probably hooraying about his new girlfriend and it was all thanks to him. Yep. Good day to be Dick Grayson.

"You screwed me Grayson!" Dick heard his name being called, or more like shouted at him, and before he had time to register what was going on, he felt himself being picked up and he was being spun around in a flurry of confusion.

The scenery before him changed and it nauseated him at how fast everything was going. He closed his eyes hoping it would stop soon and soon it did. The world was no longer blurry and as he looked around, he realized he was in a very familiar place. The sounds of the Happy Harbor beach greeted him, coupled with the sounds of a very pissed off Wally West. He was ranting, shouting obscenities along the lines of:

"Dude, you fu*#&%g screwed me man! I believed you and I got fu*#&%g shot down! _I _got shot down, _me!_ I was a total fu*#&%g idiot for trusting you Mr. I can read people and s#!&!"

Dick might have cleaned up the language a little but all in all, Wally was pissed, Artemis rejected him, and he blamed Robin. 'So not fair' Dick thought, and he let Wally call him all sorts of unmentionables before pulling out his shades and blocking out the sun in Happy Harbor, which was so not that happy right now. He put his arms up and tried in vain to placate the ranting red head before him.

"Man I'm so pissed right now!" Wally shouted at the top of his lungs and passerby shot him nasty looks.

"Yeah, no kidding." Robin said sarcastically and Wally glared at him with murderous eyes.

"And it's all your fault!" Wally shouted right in Robin's face.

"How the heck is it my fault?" Robin shouted back and the two stared each other down for what seemed like forever before Robin backed away. He took a deep breath and counted to ten in Klingon before speaking. "Start at the beginning, what happened?"

Wally seemed a bit more calm and started pacing. "Earlier this morning I ran up to Gotham before class started. I found her and pretty much, like a complete idiot" he threw Robin a mad glance here, "declared my stupid feelings for her.." he trailed off and stopped pacing. Robin considered saying something but he decided against it and let Wally start up on his own again. "She said there was some other guy… and that she only saw me as an annoying younger brother…"

Robin wasn't all that surprised by the other guy comment. He figured right about the time when Wally had said that she had rejected him that there was some other person she liked. He had seen her around the mountain, and most importantly around school and noted that she displayed symptoms of being enamored, and he also knew that he wasn't wrong about it. He was Batman's apprentice after all, and although he had been wrong about thinking her feelings were for Wally (deadly mistake), he knew there was somebody. He was, however, bothered, really bothered, by the fact that she had referred to Wally as an 'annoying younger brother.' Sure Wally was annoying, but to actually tell him to his face was overkill.

"Dude…" Robin began to console his friend but was absolutely shocked to find that Wally had slumped down onto the sand and had his face buried in his hands. It broke Robin's heart. He sat down next to him and patted him on the back at a loss of what to say next.

"You screwed me Grayson." Wally said again, his tone weak and Robin swore he heard a hint of a sob in there somewhere. Wally looked up from his hands, his green eyes puffy and a little red, and looked straight into Robin's shades. "You said she liked me."

His tone was accusing and hurtful yet Robin felt only sadness. "I'm—I'm sorry Wally." That was all Robin managed to say, and it seemed to work for the anger suddenly washed out of Wally. He slowly leaned close to Robin and he placed his head on the younger teen's shoulder. Robin froze at the sudden proximity, but he snaked his arm around his friend anyway and in an attempt to be comforting, he placed it on his shoulder. Wally felt the weight of Robin's hand and his own hand absentmindedly reached up and covered it.

It was an awkward position for both of them, but they remained put until the tension diffused and the situation went to a somewhat normal place. It was Wally that broke the embrace first and he looked at Robin with apologetic eyes.

"Sorry man." He said. The short apology was accepted and Robin simply nodded and motioned for them to get up. Robin never really much liked sand.

"Look man," Robin started as he wiped sad from his school slacks. "I'll make it up to you."

Wally scoffed at this and looked at his friend with an arched eyebrow. "And how do you propose to do _that?_"

Robin wracked his brain swiftly, in a manner that would make Batman proud, and came up with as good a solution as any. "I'll talk to her." He said. Wally almost laughed at the proposal, but at seeing how Robin was serious he just stared.

"I mean it. I messed this up, so I'll fix it." Robin flashed a cocky smile. "Bros help each other out." He could see Wally stifle a chuckle and felt, for the second time that day, accomplished. Of course he had no idea how he was going to even approach Artemis on the subject but Wally believed him, and that was all that mattered. He'd worry about the details later.

"Ok." Wally said, and shot a grin at Robin that could match even the most cunning ones he ever received.

"Ok?" Robin asked with a smile. "Meaning…?"

"I trust you. Foolish of me really." Wally shrugged and extended his arm towards Robin. Robin shook his hand but was surprised to find himself being pulled towards the taller boy. Wally picked him up bridal stile and chuckled when Robin's cheeks got a shade darker. "Relax." Wally said soothingly.

"What are you doing?" Robin asked slowly.

"Gotta get you back to school don't I?"

Robin had actually forgotten he wasn't at school anymore. He looked around and saw scattered sunbathers and various surfers and remembered where he was. He turned his gaze back at Wally and smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I suppose you do."

"And Robin, don't let me down."

Robin swallowed back a witty remark and started to formulate a plan to get Artemis to fall in love with Wally West.

_-Note- Fastest update I've ever done. Hope it didn't let anyone down. I swear it'll pick up soon and if I messed up anywhere please let me know!_


	3. Chapter 3

Shaken

Chapter Three

Artemis sat looking uninterested out of the window. Her teacher was rambling on about something completely unimportant and her thoughts deviated. She thought of the exercise she had partaken in the previous day. It still chilled her down to the bone to think of how she had died. She had literally died. Ok, not literally, but it sure felt that way. She had felt her body disintegrate, like every layer of her body was being burned away, every tiny cell exploding and leaving nothing but darkness behind. She shuddered and willed the thoughts away. She tried to think of something else, something that wasn't related to death and nothingness.

She went on to thinking about the aftermath of the exercise and how everybody had looked so shaken up by the events. Everybody, especially Kid Flash. She remembered how his emerald green eyes looked at her with both sickening fear and relief, how his body language proved to want nothing but to hold her, kiss her and tell her that everything will be ok. She remembered how while she saw Kid Flash yearning for her, she found herself yearning for somebody else. When she had 'died' she had had one last thought only, how she would never see his face again. She swore that killed her faster than the death ray. It was a strange and unorthodox line of thought but she had it nonetheless, she did that a lot.

The bell rang announcing that it was time for second period and Artemis slowly gathered her books and walked out of the room. She made her way through the courtyard of this fancy new school she was attending and passed right by the spot in which she had broken Wally West's heart. She paused and recalled the event that was still fresh in her mind.

Right before the start of the hell she called first period, she had felt a rush of wind sweep up behind her. She had turned around to see a very flushed Wally standing right in front of her.

"What the… Wally? What are you doing here?" she had asked, eyes wide and scanning the crowd of students to see if anybody had seen Wally's wild red head appear from out of nowhere.

"Artemis," Wally had said with an air of confidence, "I love you."

Artemis couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her eyes were wide with shock and she began to quickly run through ideas as to why Wally West would run all the way form, well from wherever he ran from in order to tell her such a thing. She marked off practical joke for even Wally wouldn't resort to such measures to pull a fast one. Could he be for real? Sure he was showing more maturity towards her during their previous missions, and sure Megan was out of bounds now, but it couldn't have led to this, could it?

"Uh, Artemis?"

Artemis was pulled out of her reverie by a still hopeful Wally waving his hand in front of her face. It seemed as though he was under the impression that she felt the same way.

Artemis shook her head and pushed the thought out of her mind. She refused to go over how she had practically destroyed her teammate's heart, but the image of him running away, that she couldn't get out of her mind. She had hurt him and she knew it, but what else was she to do? She couldn't very well lead Wally on when she had her heart set on someone else, she couldn't return his feelings and she couldn't be late for second period again.

For what seemed like the fiftieth time that day, she pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind and started towards her next class.

* * *

><p>Wally waved goodbye to Dick after he dropped him back off at Gotham Academy. Seeing his friend go, Dick took off his shades and reentered the role of billionaire's son. He was surprised at the fact that he had only missed first period, it had seemed like a hell of a lot more time spent at the beach. He dusted off whatever sand was left after traveling 'Kid Flash fast' and headed to his second period class.<p>

He walked through the courtyard and spotted Artemis standing there looking deep in thought. He briefly pondered about what would happen if he just went up to her as Dick Grayson and started discussing her love life. Knowing it would end badly, he kept on walking.

Upon reaching his destination, he sat down in a desk at the back of the classroom and began thinking once more about how he would approach Artemis later that day. He had messed up and hurt his best friend in the process, and one way or another he was going to fix it.

_-Note- I know it is a very short chapter and not much happens…l assure you it was not my intention but the creative process let me to this awkward junction between awesome and not so awesome. I thought about going into exactly how Artemis shot Wally down but that just didn't get to happen. I will however reveal who she is crushing on in the next chapter or so so I hope you look forward to that!_


	4. Chapter 4

Shaken

Chapter Four

"Ok, you can do this. He doesn't hate you." Artemis stood outside the broken telephone booth that would take her to Mount Justice giving herself a pep talk before facing a broken hearted Kid Flash.

"Sure you pretty much killed his ego today… and broke his heart… and called him your little brother…" she paused. "Ok maybe I can't do this."

She began to pace back and forth, the booth coming in and out of her sight and then she heard a noise coming form behind her.

"Who's there?" she shouted the question threateningly as she grabbed for an arrow.

"Relax it's just me." Robin voice was loud and clear and it made Artemis put down her weapon. "What are you doing?" Robin asked as he came out of the shadows and into Artemis's view.

"Just thinking." The blonde girl replied waving the inquiry away and stepping into the booth.

"About Wally?"

That was the last thing Artemis heard before the transported took her to Mount Justice. She stood there flabbergasted and waited for the computer to finish calling out her designation and start saying Robin's.

_Recognized: Robin B Zero One_

Robin appeared at the entrance and before he had a chance to move Artemis tackled him to the ground and straddled his slim form with murderous intent.

"What do you know?" she growled at the poor boy underneath her. This one just looked uncomfortable by their closeness and by the time Artemis realized what she was doing it was too late.

_Ahem._

It was the all too recognizable grunt that belonged to none other than Batman. Artemis swore she was quicker than all the Flashes combined for as soon as she heard him she was up on her feet and as far away from Robin as possible without leaving the room, faintly wondering why the Dark Knight was even in said room.

"Can either of you tell me what that was about?" Batman's question was directed to both of them but his gaze was strictly directed at his apprentice.

"Practice." Robin said nonchalantly, as if the whole thing was the most normal thing in the Bat household. He walked pass the intimidating form of Batman and ever so slightly brushed his cape as if taunting his mentor. Artemis gaped at the unbelievable display and blushed madly when she saw Batman turn his gaze to her. The Bat looked her up and down slowly before turning on his heel and departing the cave.

"Well that was fun." Artemis could barely hear as Robin made the most asinine remark she had heard him say, and she had heard some crazy stuff come out of that boy's mouth.

"Fun? Fun?" She nearly popped a blood vessel with her remark.

"Relax, at least you don't have to deal with him later tonight." Robin said with a laugh and started to head to the cave's kitchen. Artemis saw him move out of the corner of her eye and immediately remembered why it was that she had him pinned to the floor in the first place. She reacted quickly and grabbed Robin by the arm, pulling him towards the empty library and eliciting an involuntary 'whoa' from the startled boy.

"Oh no you don't." she said as she dragged him further and further to a place she knew they wouldn't be heard.

"Geez slow down will you?" Robin uncharacteristically wined and it flustered Artemis. She finally stopped in the very back of the library by the dustier books and set Robin free.

"Start talking." She ordered, and received a sigh from the Boy Wonder.

"Ok. I might have told Wally to confess his feelings for you and when you rejected him he came to me and blamed me for it which I seriously thought was so not cool 'cause I totally thought you were digging on him too so when he told me you told him he was more like a brother to you I was like 'that's not right' which it wasn't by the way I mean do you know Wally and then you said there was another guy and then I was like 'ooh!" but then I promised Wally I would fix it and now I have to tell you to forget that other guy and fall in love with Wally."

Robin finished explaining himself and stood there looking at Artemis as if everything should be fixed now. Artemis just blinked a few times and shook her head at the lengthy explanation and the ridiculousness of the situation. Robin was the reason she had to break Wally's heart? Of all the people in the entire world, it had to be Robin. Ironic.

"So let me get this straight." Artemis began slowly. "It was you?" She pointed at Robin. "You encouraged him to come up to me out of the blue like that?"

"Hey in my defense," Robin put his hands up as if guarding himself against an attack. "It wasn't completely out of the blue. You were surely aware of his growing feelings towards you. He's been mooning after you for a while now."

"Well yeah!" Artemis shouted and threw her arms in the air. "But it was much nicer to think that he wasn't!"

"So you knew about his feelings but chose to ignore them?" Robin sounded incredulous, and a little taunting. It infuriated Artemis.

"Look here mister, you out of all people should not be lecturing me on feelings." With that accusation, Artemis turned on her heel and made for the exit, she thought she could get away for a split second but she forgot just who she was dealing with. Robin did some sort of magic leap in the air and landed softly in from of her, placing his hands on her shoulders and stopping her in her tracks. Artemis sighed in defeat.

"What do you mean me of all people?" Robin asked the question but shook his head and looked as if he decided it wasn't as important as the task at hand. "Never mind. Why won't you love Wally?" With that, Artemis snapped.

"I can't love Wally because I'm in love with… with somebody else." She turned her head away and hoped against hope Robin hadn't noticed her pause. As if Batman's apprentice wouldn't notice something odd like that.

Robin had noticed but he brushed it off as her not wanting to tell him who this other guy was.

"Ok fine, so there's somebody else." Robin said. "What do they got that Wally doesn't? He's a catch you know? I mean have you seen him run? How much better can this guy be than Wally We—"

"I don't know Robin." Artemis interrupted him and Robin could see tears starting to fill her eyes. "How much better_ are_ you than Wally?"

With this Artemis released herself from Robin's hold and ran away and out of the library.

Robin looked after her with a puzzled look on his face. "How much better am _I_?" he said quietly to himself and then the gears started working. 'You of all people' she had said… she had paused… she was in love with somebody else… that somebody else was…

"Oh crap." Robin said out loud. "Way to go Grayson."

_-Note- Tan tan taaan! Bet ya'll didn't see _that _coming. Ok maybe most of you did, but I still tried. Stick around no? It's about to get cru-azey. R/R please?_


	5. Chapter 5

_-Note- I forgot to explain that in the last chapter there was a reason why I threw Batman in there. I thought it would be funny ^^ that is all._

Shaken

Chapter Five

The halls of Mount Justice suddenly seemed smaller to Wally West. He was pacing back and forth, analyzing what Robin had told him, trying to forget what Artemis had told him, and thinking of ways things would go. He had put all of his trust, again, on that tiny acrobat he called a best friend. He didn't know if it was right, wrong, or just plain stupid, but he didn't care. He knew Robin had his back, he wanted what was best for him, he was going to fix it.

Wally was sure of all of this as he paced the ever shrinking halls of Mount Justice, that is, until he saw Artemis running away from what seemed the direction of the library, with tears in her eyes. She ran past him and straight into her room, slamming the door behind her. Wally seriously considered going after her, but decided against it.

He thought about blaming Robin for this, it was surely his fault, but decided against that too. His best friend wouldn't screw him over twice in one day wouldn't he? "No, he wouldn't." Wally said to himself and decided it would be a good idea to clear his head. He alerted the rest of his teammates he was going out and without looking back he walked to the beach to think things through and hope Robin would get back to him soon.

* * *

><p>The tears falling out of Artemis's eyes felt like stinging drops of ice. She cursed herself for being so stupid. In one day she had ruined her life because of her darned feelings and then had ended up hurting others as well. She never meant for any of this to happen. She never wanted to hurt Wally, not in that way anyway, and she certainly never wanted to reveal her feelings for Robin.<p>

Her feelings for Robin…

She didn't even know how that had even started to be honest. One day she was just part of a team of friends and the next she was part of a team of friends and a very sexy unattainable mysterious thirteen year old. 'He's only _thirteen!_' the thought angered her even more and she cried harder, this time not just because she was sad, but angry as well.

How could she had been so careless as to fall in love, actually fall _in love_ with a teammate, and not just any teammate, but the _youngest _of them all! The one she knew almost nothing about! Sure that added to the allure of the whole situation, she was always a sucker for the mysterious type, but that's not all he was! He was immature and short and smug and nerdy and… strong and… agile and…and… he had saved her life countless times. Back when the Reds attacked headquarters, he was the one that kept his cool. He rationalized and worked out a plan and helped give her the _cajones _she needed to not just curl up in a ball and leave them all to die. Thinking about it now, that could be where her feelings for him originated.

She thought he was a leader. Not a Kaldur kind of leader, not yet, but a leader nonetheless. He was smart. He was funny, sometimes. He had, she had no doubt, beautiful eyes. He had a cute nose, and killer muscles. His features gave him a much older appearance, what with that cocky grin that seemed to be permanently etched on his face, making those lips of his oh so irresistible and kissable and…

"No! Stop it Artemis!" she chided herself and sat up on her bed refusing to let her mind run away from her any more. She walked over to her nightstand and rummaged for a box of tissue. He blew her nose noisily and cleaned her face. As she looked at herself in the mirror, devoid of tears, she started to think of a way that she could fix this.

It was unavoidable, she had to start with Wally. She had to set him straight and tell him it was so not cool to send Robin in to try and change her mind, but this time she would be sure to leave out the 'little brother' comment.

And as far as Robin went, well that she would just have to wait and see.

* * *

><p>"Ok. That did not go as planned."<p>

Robin had slumped down to the floor of the library and was racking his brain for reasons as to why his plan had blown up in his face. He wasn't used to losing, not used to being wrong at all, and he sure as heck did not like the fact that he had technically been wrong twice that day. He had told Wally he would fix it and instead ended up making a bigger mess than before.

He knew very well that his approach to the situation was not really the most suave or coordinated he had ever been. Turns out the 'just say it all at once and hope for the best' plan hadn't worked and it had somehow led to Artemis telling him that _he _was the other guy! There was no way he could explain that to Wally, none at all.

And how was he supposed to know that Artemis had the hots for him? Sure he was flattered and all that he could get a solid eight like Artemis to yearn for him but it was not part of the plan! She wasn't supposed to want him, she was supposed to listen to how Robin talked Wally up and realize that she _was _in love with him, run to his side and have haughty red headed babies!

Robin grunted. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked up at the ceiling. An image of him and Artemis fleeing together through the vents during the Red attack came to mind and a light bulb flashed in his head. "Well that explains _that." _He sighed and chuckled somberly at the fact that as much as one thing was explained, it didn't help him with the most important thing: what the hell was he going to tell Wally?

He couldn't tell him Artemis liked him, not unless he wanted to lose his best friend in the whole world. How would that even work? "Hey Wally guess what? I talked to Artemis and it turns out she loves me instead! Funny, huh? So, wanna go shoot some pool?"

'Well that's silly.' Robin thought, 'I don't even like pool.' No, there was absolutely no way that Robin would say anything remotely related to Artemis's true feelings, or pool. He would just have to resort to what he was really good at. Getting up from the floor he headed out to find his speedster best friend. During his search he began to formulate the perfect plan, and this time he would try extra hard for it to not backfire.

After all, nobody knew how to lie better than Dick Grayson.

_-Note- Yup, Dick's gonna lie his little butt off in the next chapter. Poor Wally, he just wants some lovin'. And also, here's a hint, The Flash? Yeah, he's a-coming. _


End file.
